Miami-Dade Teachers' Union Partners With Edison on Charter Plan

The teachers' union in Miami-Dade County, Fla., has joined with an
unlikely partner—Edison Schools Inc.—in a proposal to build
and manage 10 charter schools to help serve the district's bulging
enrollment.

United Teachers of Dade, an affiliate of the American Federation of
Teachers, would receive the charter from the Miami-Dade district and
would hire Edison to run seven elementary schools, two middle schools,
and one high school by 2003, under a proposal jointly announced by the
two organizations this month.

New York City-based Edison, the nation's largest school-management
company, has run one public elementary school in Miami-Dade County, the
nation's fourth-largest district, since 1996. The company was greeted
skeptically by the local union when it began managing Henry S. Reeves
Elementary in Miami that year, and it faced several labor problems
early in its tenure there.

But matters have been smoother since then. In 1998, Edison teachers
at Reeves Elementary became the first to enroll in the company's
stock-option program.

"We think there have been tremendous strides at Reeves," said
Annette Katz, the spokeswoman for United Teachers of Dade. "We think
Edison has a good system that we can work with."

Benno C. Schmidt Jr., Edison's chairman, called the partnership a
"breakthrough" in relations between the teachers' union and the
company.

"This is the first time there has been an alliance of this kind and
with this kind of scale," he said.

United Teachers of Dade plans to submit a charter school application
to the district by Oct. 1. If a school system committee gives its
approval, union and district officials will negotiate the charters
while Edison looks for sites to house the schools, Ms. Katz said. Once
those steps had been taken, the Miami-Dade school board would vote on
whether to grant the charters.

'Pioneering' Approaches

Under the plan, seven elementary schools would open in 2001, serving
some 1,000 children each. One middle school would open that year and
another in 2002, with each serving some 1,600 students. A 2,000-student
high school would open in 2003.

Miami- Dade has long been one of the fastest-growing districts in
the country. Enrollment this fall is more than 358,000.

The teachers' union would head the governance board of the 10
charter schools and would hire Edison to manage them. Ms. Katz said
teachers at the schools would work under the union's contract with the
school district.

Some modifications could be made to Edison's curriculum and school
design, based on suggestions from parents and teachers, officials
said.

"Edison is willing to tweak its system," Ms. Katz said.

Mr. Schmidt said Edison and the union would work together on
"pioneering some new approaches to recruitment, training, and
certification" of teachers for the new schools.

The charter plan could result in about $9.5 million in public
funding for school construction and facilities, and as much as $50
million a year in per-pupil operating revenue.

Though the AFT and the National Education Association generally
oppose private management of public schools, Edison works closely with
the unions in many cities. The company runs 108 schools with a total
enrollment of some 57,000 students.

In New York City, the company has proposed converting as many as 45
troubled public schools into charter schools under its management. Mr.
Schmidt said Edison is talking with the United Federation of Teachers,
the AFT affiliate serving New York City's public school teachers, in
hopes of getting the union's support for its plan. ("Companies, Nonprofits Jump at
Chance To Manage N.Y.C. Schools," Sept. 6, 2000.)

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